white spruce

noun

Definition of white spruce

1 : any of several spruces especially : a widely distributed spruce (Picea glauca) of coniferous forests of Canada and the northern U.S. that has short stiff blue-green needles and slender cones — see cone illustration

2 : the wood of a white spruce especially : the light pale tough straight-grained wood of the common white spruce (Picea glauca) used especially for construction and as a source of paper pulp

Examples of white spruce in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the northernmost boreal forests of Alaska, where trees and tundra meet, Griffin and his students have installed thirty-six dendrometers on white spruce trees. — M. R. O’connor, The New Yorker, "A Day in the Life of a Tree," 27 Aug. 2019 Researchers found that tossing 600,000 pounds of dead sockeye salmon onto a stream bank over twenty years encouraged the growth of white spruce. — Rafil Kroll-zaidi, Harper's magazine, "Findings," 10 Jan. 2019 Then there were the locals, the family of ravens screaming from a white spruce not far from the race start. — Ned Rozell, Anchorage Daily News, "What it’s like to run circles for 24 hours around the land of no night," 9 June 2018 Regional replanting can include up to 19 native species, from white spruce and jack pine to hemlock and Douglas fir. — Luc Forsyth, National Geographic, "For Cash and Pride, Replanting Canada's Forests by the Millions," 8 June 2018 Norway spruce, blue spruce and white spruce are among the most popular trees in the area, prized for their winter color and ability to screen out the neighbors. — Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, "Have a dying spruce tree? Fungus may be the culprit," 23 May 2018 For those last-minute ornament and light hangers, Hinman plans to offer trees for free on Saturday to help clear the lot of balsam fir, Colorado blue spruce, Fraser fir, Norway spruce, white spruce and concolor fir. — Peter Marteka, Courant Community, "Craftsbury Christmas Farm Tradition Coming To An End After 23 Years," 19 Dec. 2017 Choose from holiday favorites like poinsettia and white spruce. — Vera Castaneda, latimes.com, "Stocking stuffers," 3 Nov. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'white spruce.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

2 Sep 2019

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The first known use of white spruce was in 1731

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